


War Gets Hard

by lettuce172



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Also warnings for talking about war, Gen, I don’t know if I tagged this right, It does talk about death though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29655219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettuce172/pseuds/lettuce172
Summary: After Sodapop gets drafted, the Curtis house gets the news of his death.
Kudos: 3





	War Gets Hard

**Author's Note:**

> Also I wrote this one in like 2019 leave me be.

It had been around a year since Sodapop Curtis had been drafted to fight in a war. Life went on, but it was altered for everyone who had gotten to know him even just for a day. The poor boy, who knows what he’d been through, or what he would go through still.   
Christmas rolled around after a while. The days felt longer than they ever had, and long days after long days brought lots of time to prepare. They’d need it now, it was only Darry and Ponyboy there this year. Soda and Steve were both in the war, Two-Bit was always in a bar or anywhere he could find something to drink for cheap, Johnny and Dallas were celebrating six feet under, and the remaining two Curtis brothers were at home.   
Ponyboy glanced around the once lively home, a feeling of emptiness overcoming him. A sigh fell from his lips, going into the room the two brothers sat in silently. “Dar?” Pony’s voice carried to the older man in the room. Darry looked up from his hands that laid in his lap to Ponyboy. “It’s Christmas already, ain’t it?” the younger boy asked.   
“Yeah, it is. Sorry it’s not much this year, kiddo,” Darry responded, his voice was his voice, but it wasn’t him. No matter how out of it he was, he was right. There wouldn’t be a Christmas for them. They didn’t even want one this year, not without Soda. There was no tree, no decorations up, no presents, and no one to celebrate with. The two never exactly got along, but without the glue to keep them together Pony and Darry didn’t get along well enough to celebrate anything together. They were really just like roommates now, their only relationship being the house.   
“It’s okay, it ain’t Christmas anymore. Christmas is supposed to have family, and we just don’t got that,” Ponyboy told the other person inside. His voice was weak, weak to the point that anyone could hear the pain in it.   
Darry set his gaze back down to his lap. “I know, I wish I could bring Soda back to us or even just be a good brother just like him,” Darry said, biting down on his bottom lip. Here it came again, Darry’s self doubt moment. They were very rare, that is until Soda left. Now it seems he always blames everything on himself, really everything. Usually something about how it should’ve been him in the war.

“You and Soda are both awful good big brothers, Darry,” Pony told his oldest sibling. Ponyboy knew that Darry compared how he and Soda were seen through Pony’s eyes because of the slump Pony couldn’t seem to get out of when Soda was drafted. Of course, he didn’t know how Pony was impacted by Darry not coming home the week of Soda’s leaving, how much the poor kid cried his eyes out because he didn’t have any family to turn to. Darry stayed at work to take his mind off things instead of caring for the broken pieces of a brother he still had.   
Darry stood up from his chair, stretching out a bit. “Thanks, but you know that’s a lie. You love Soda, and you know it. I’m just the guy you live with aren’t I? The guy who you keep staying with for Sodapop, and Sodapop only,” Darry assumed. He made his way to the kitchen, starting to wipe down the counters. When Darry gets stressed or overwhelmed with an emotion he cleans whatever he sees is the slightest bit dirty.   
“I do love Soda, he’s a real great brother to the both of us, but I love you too. Don’t you ever think that I still need you around? Especially without Sodapop here, you’re all I’ve got left,” Ponyboy explained, following his brother into the kitchen. He put away everything that was used for their recent meal to help Darry out.   
That hit the older male, making him stop cleaning. “Well you’ve got,” he stopped, trying to think of anyone he had. At a sudden loss for words he sighed, Ponyboy was pretty much spot on.   
Ponyboy looked at Darry, standing up straight and closing the cupboard. “You. I’ve got you.”

“I guess you do.” Darry placed a hand on Pony’s shoulder. “You’ll have Soda as soon as he gets back, too,” Darrel reassured his younger brother. He didn’t want to bring up how much of he was starting to wonder if Sodapop would come home or if he’d never be back. Darry knew how hurt Ponyboy would be if his second oldest brother were to have died so early on in his life.

A knock on their door echoed through the house. “It’s Christmas and someone came and knocked at our door?” Pony said, sounding confused as ever. Darry made his way to the door, opening it without a word.   
“Are you Darrel Curtis? The guardian of Sodapop Curtis?” the man who had knocked questioned.   
Darry simply nodded, scared for what they were there for. “Yes, that’s me.” He was handed a letter from the male standing outside. “Thank you,” Darrel told him as he began walking away.   
“What’s that?” Ponyboy asked as Darry sat down in the living room. He showed Pony the envelope and what was written on it, showing where it came from. The young boy’s heart dropped when he realized there was only one thing they’d get a letter about from them. It was the branch that Soda was drafted into and fought for.   
Darry opened the letter slowly, dreading reading what it said. His blue and green eyes darted across the paper, him showing no emotion through reading the words. That gave Ponyboy hope, maybe it wasn’t too bad. Darrel handed Pony the paper to read as he hid his face in his hands. Whatever the man was mumbling couldn’t be understood by anyone but himself.   
The page fell to the floor from Ponyboy’s hands. The kid was left in tears as reality started to set in and he processed everything. Darry’s emotions even started to come in to play after a moment of thought.   
Now they knew Soda was gone, that there was no chance to get him back. “It can’t be real, he can’t be dead,” Pony’s voice cracked. He clenched his fists, letting his nail dig into his palms.   
“I know it’ll be hard kiddo, but we’ll make it,” Darry tried to cheer up the boy. Ponyboy decided to go into his and Soda’s bedroom, taking a look at Sodapop’s things that he left behind.   
Left in the living room, Darry put the letter back into its envelope. Another paper stuck out of it, one that he hadn’t noticed before. Pulling it out it was clear this page wasn’t written by anyone in the government like the other. It was folded and wrinkled with handwritten words over the surface. 

‘I’m sorry to everyone in the gang I’m letting down now, but I tried. I fought and I fought as hard as I could, but the war fought back harder and I couldn’t win. Don’t worry about me though because it’s over now and I know this is for the best. I hope we win this one, for everyone here. I told one of the leaders to send this back to you all if I died and as much as I hope you don’t have to see this, I wanted to have some goodbyes just in case.   
Darry, you’re possibly the best big brother I could have asked for in this life. Thank you for taking care of me all this time and looking out for me. Maybe go a little easier on Ponyboy sometimes, the kid needs a break every now and then and I hope you give it to him. I know you want him to do good in life but he’ll make it even if he goofs off sometimes. Remember he still has a chance to be a kid, let him take it. Hey, once you get a chance why don’t you take a break too? Go on a little vacation or even get a nice girlfriend. You have to let yourself have some free time, and I want you to make sure you get it. I love you Darry, goodbye.   
Ponyboy, you’re going to have to keep my side of the bed warm at night now. I know you’re going places with your life kid and I’m so proud of you, I always will be. You’re the smartest kid I’ve met, and you just keep getting better and better. I’m really kind of jealous of you, kid. I told Darry to not be so hard on you, but remember he’s just looking out for your future. He knows you have a lot of potential to be better than what we were. Please listen to him sometimes and try to see his side of everything, he’s a nice guy when he warms up to you. Don’t let him overwork himself, okay? Get him a good time if he doesn’t do it himself. I love you Ponyboy, goodbye.

Love, Sodapop Curtis’

“Hey Ponyboy?” Darry went into Pony’s room holding the letter in his shaky hand. He younger of the two looked up to see Darrel. “I think you ought to read this one, too.” The taller man handed over to paper to Ponyboy, sitting down next to him on the bed.   
The boy read Sodapop’s writing, his crying worsening even more. Ponyboy wrapped his arms around Darry in a hug followed by Darry slowly hugging him back. “He’s really gone,” Pony spoke, his voice muffled into Darry’s chest.   
“Yeah honey, but we’ll be okay,” Darry said soothingly, rubbing Ponyboy’s back gently. His shirt was already wet from the tears his brother cried. “I’m sorry, Ponyboy.”

That’s how life went on for some time after. Ponyboy cried more than he had even when his parents died and Darry always tried his hardest to comfort him when he saw. Pony was bringing home grades like Two-Bit, terrible ones. Not to mention he hardly slept at night anymore and when he did he had terrible nightmares that woke him up after only a few hours of sleep.   
Darry worked harder than ever, often leaving before Ponyboy left his room for the morning and coming home after Pony had been in bed for an about an hour. He tried listening to Soda but he couldn’t bring himself to waste time relaxing when his life could end just as soon without any big accomplishments. He completely scratched the whole girlfriend idea, he was scared of losing another person he loved.   
They knew Sodapop was the glue to their family, but nobody guessed it would get this bad. Sometimes both Darry and Ponyboy had the thought about Pony going to a boy’s home and Darry considered it a few times too. He thought he might get a better role model that way, but he could never bring himself to lose his last family member. This is what they had left, and neither planned to lose it. 


End file.
